Time for a reboot

Update 5 March:
I posted some photos from a day at the beach here!
Update 26 February:
I posted the back to school photos here! 

Hi folks, we're back!

Where have we been? Well, we've been around! Since I stopped in the middle of working on a post about the rest of our Easter trip (which I have published here, finally, by the way), we've been living our lives here in Poland and traveling when possible. In July we went to Krakow. In July and August we took a two week vacation to Český Krumlov in the Czech Republic, Vienna, the Plitvice Lakes National Park, Dubrovnik, Split, and Rovinj in Croatia, Lake Bled and the Lipizzaner Stallion Farm in Lipica, Slovenia. Then we went to Copenhagen with friends. In October during fall break we took a trip down to Bavaria and saw Garmisch, Mad King Ludwig's castle, Neuschwanstein, better known as the inspiration for Cinderella's castle at Disney World, Munich, and Salzburg. When Aunt Sarah came to visit in December she and I spent some time in Berlin, and we all spent a couple of days traveling to Dresden and Bolesławiec. When Aunt Mer and Uncle Steve came after Christmas we went back to Krakow, then to Budapest, Slovakia, Prague, and Berlin. Over Emmy's recent winter break between the school terms, we went down to Graf, the U.S. post closest to us, and also Rothenburg and Nürnberg. It's been quite a year.

So, where have I been? Well, I have to be honest, on April 13th we got some unhappy news: Charles wasn't going to appear on the promotion list to Lieutenant Colonel that was being released the next day. We were shocked, disappointed, upset. Neither of us wanted to be overly confident, we knew it was a possibility, but he'd been given this job because he was "in the top third" of his year group. I certainly did not understand fully what it meant if this came to be. Because this was his "primary zone" look for LTC, meaning the year that he would be expected to be promoted and his best chance of being selected, then he only gets one more look. The chances are much smaller that he will get promoted, and if he does not, then he gets kicked out of the Army. Frankly, folks, this has felt like a punch in the gut. After years of service and being encouraged along and being promoted two years early to major, it is deeply disappointing. I really struggled with this news and it really caused me to grieve and caused me to deal with depression like I haven't in years. That may sound dramatic, but I have learned once you have dealt with deep grief, new losses can make those feelings bubble up again stronger than you imagined. This is a life that we've both been devoted to, I spent hundreds, probably thousands of hours volunteering, and gave up career opportunities. To have it all come to an end not on our terms is a blow. We can speculate as to why this happened, but we don't really know. He did all the right things, he just got caught up in numbers and likely he was actually at a disadvantage because he was promoted so early. Unfair, but then we've long ago learned that life isn't fair.

This news affects our family in many significant ways.  It means we could lose his retirement, although he should have no trouble applying for the early retirement program that is temporarily in effect. But even that will not be a significantly smaller retirement pay. It means deciding where to try and settle down, looking for a forever house sooner, having less time to save for that forever house. I have less time to decide if I want to go back to school before he retires. It means we won't know if or where we are moving until this summer, when this year's promotion list is released.  It has meant feeling like we are in a permanent state of limbo. I honestly couldn't bring myself to come back to this space to write about it, and it kept me from blogging about anything else. Sure, we have had a lot of fun these last few months, don't get me wrong, but as a friend who is in a similar situation has said, it cast a gray cloud over everything.

So, I'm sorry. We're here. I'm back at it. I've started this post probably 20 times in the last 10 months, but here it is. I'll continue to try and post photos from our adventures. We've got a lot more coming up, as we're trying to pack it in before we potentially move this summer. The kids are happy and healthy and keep us on our toes. We've celebrated birthdays and holidays and enjoyed watching them grow in this international environment.

One thing is for sure, we miss you all terribly and we hope you are well. I'll close this post with our Valentine for 2017 (which should be arriving to you soon, if they have not already), as we send our love from across the globe.